Comments on: Driving: Rite of Passage http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/ public domain playground. friendly entities welcome. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:01:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Avi Solomon http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20641 Avi Solomon Sun, 17 Sep 2006 16:38:46 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20641 Read the chapter on adolescence in Colin Turnbull's <a href="http://www.colinturnbull.com/pygmyinitiationmov.html" rel="nofollow">'The Human Cycle'</a> Read the chapter on adolescence in Colin Turnbull’s ‘The Human Cycle’

]]> By: Tim Boucher http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20509 Tim Boucher Fri, 15 Sep 2006 21:49:46 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20509 <blockquote>Sure, my way of seeing it is way less fun to the conspiracy folks</blockquote> I'm not really trying to express that I think any of this is conspiratorial at all, unless you abide in the idea that the only conspiracy out there is that things perpetuate themselves... http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/05/the-conspiracy-of-society/

Sure, my way of seeing it is way less fun to the conspiracy folks

I’m not really trying to express that I think any of this is conspiratorial at all, unless you abide in the idea that the only conspiracy out there is that things perpetuate themselves…

http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/05/the-conspiracy-of-society/

]]> By: Tim Boucher http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20508 Tim Boucher Fri, 15 Sep 2006 21:48:26 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20508 <blockquote>Perhaps the way out of this quagmire is somehow to reinstitute the meaningful coming of age rituals</blockquote> I think you may be right in some sense. We have all these rites of passage which we no longer recognize for what they are: religious rituals. As a result, we all have many many imprints which have been made upon our minds by society which we don't even realize are there at all. What if we could intentionally choose how we imprint our minds, and control the context, meaning and implications of the whole thing. The good news is: we can. The bad news is that it requires work and people are not used to that anymore because we've been imprinted (ritually) to be hooked on instant gratification, rather than the pleasure of discovery and of doing it ourselves, even if our end product is inferior to what could be mass produced and bought

Perhaps the way out of this quagmire is somehow to reinstitute the meaningful coming of age rituals

I think you may be right in some sense. We have all these rites of passage which we no longer recognize for what they are: religious rituals. As a result, we all have many many imprints which have been made upon our minds by society which we don’t even realize are there at all. What if we could intentionally choose how we imprint our minds, and control the context, meaning and implications of the whole thing.

The good news is: we can. The bad news is that it requires work and people are not used to that anymore because we’ve been imprinted (ritually) to be hooked on instant gratification, rather than the pleasure of discovery and of doing it ourselves, even if our end product is inferior to what could be mass produced and bought

]]> By: SubstanceM http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20457 SubstanceM Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:00:29 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20457 <blockquote>and I dont mean whisky shots and a free hooker from yer dad. </blockquote> Why not? :)

and I dont mean whisky shots and a free hooker from yer dad.

Why not? :)

]]> By: whatacharacter http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20428 whatacharacter Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:08:23 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20428 Wow! I think the idea that we have replaced ancient coming of age rituals, which have a deep and lasting meaning, for something which has become a pox on American society, is most insightful! How better to perpetuate auto dependancy than impress it upon the minds of wonky teenagers .... plus combining it with associated speed and danger! Powerful connection indeed! When I look upon my car obsessed neighbors - three, who all have at least 6 cars a piece, in various stages of rusty oil dripping - I wonder how this happened? I figured the love of auto came from the freedom of the open road, and owning your own personal shiney & sleek monster machine. It once included the ability to be your own mechanic too, working on combustion engines under a shady tree, but that's gone the way of roof thatchers. This concept that it starts early is profound. Perhaps the way out of this quagmire is somehow to reinstitute the meaningful coming of age rituals ... and I dont mean whisky shots and a free hooker from yer dad. Wow! I think the idea that we have replaced ancient coming of age rituals, which have a deep and lasting meaning, for something which has become a pox on American society, is most insightful! How better to perpetuate auto dependancy than impress it upon the minds of wonky teenagers …. plus combining it with associated speed and danger! Powerful connection indeed!

When I look upon my car obsessed neighbors - three, who all have at least 6 cars a piece, in various stages of rusty oil dripping - I wonder how this happened? I figured the love of auto came from the freedom of the open road, and owning your own personal shiney & sleek monster machine. It once included the ability to be your own mechanic too, working on combustion engines under a shady tree, but that’s gone the way of roof thatchers. This concept that it starts early is profound.

Perhaps the way out of this quagmire is somehow to reinstitute the meaningful coming of age rituals … and I dont mean whisky shots and a free hooker from yer dad.

]]> By: SubstanceM http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20414 SubstanceM Thu, 14 Sep 2006 17:13:20 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20414 Is wanting to drive a car really part of "what it means to be an adult". As I remember when I was 16, it was a really cool way to be 16. It was the most excellent of toys you could play with - you could easily describe it as the capping off of being a big kid, by the time yer 16 Xmas doesn't hold the same thrill anymore...and people who have and want cars for more than utilitarian purposes are generally like kids in their love of cars and driving rather than being "adult" about it all. It sure didn't cause me all of the sudden to become responsible and careful...it just made me a stupid and irresponsible 16 yr old with a fuckin awesome new game to play - drive around town! If you had to wait until you were 16 to drive a bike, for example, would bicycling become a new sign post of adulthood? Or would it just be really fun to ride a bike once you could? (oh ya and it can also help you get around for your grocery shopping, too) What's my point? I don't know, but I remember that driving was all I wanted to be able to do when I was 16, and it had nothing to do with wanting to become "responsible" as it did with being able to do something full o' cool fun speediness. Later, when I had to have a car (and the expenses) for getting to work, driving the kid, etc. it became much more utilitarian. But if the norm available for doing those things were horse and buggy, then that's what you'd get instead. Actually, it might be fun to horse and buggy it to work...again, no point just blah blah blahing... Is wanting to drive a car really part of “what it means to be an adult”.
As I remember when I was 16, it was a really cool way to be 16.
It was the most excellent of toys you could play with - you could easily describe it as the capping off of being a big kid, by the time yer 16 Xmas doesn’t hold the same thrill anymore…and people who have and want cars for more than utilitarian purposes are generally like kids in their love of cars and driving rather than being “adult” about it all. It sure didn’t cause me all of the sudden to become responsible and careful…it just made me a stupid and irresponsible 16 yr old with a fuckin awesome new game to play - drive around town! If you had to wait until you were 16 to drive a bike, for example, would bicycling become a new sign post of adulthood? Or would it just be really fun to ride a bike once you could? (oh ya and it can also help you get around for your grocery shopping, too) What’s my point? I don’t know, but I remember that driving was all I wanted to be able to do when I was 16, and it had nothing to do with wanting to become “responsible” as it did with being able to do something full o’ cool fun speediness. Later, when I had to have a car (and the expenses) for getting to work, driving the kid, etc. it became much more utilitarian. But if the norm available for doing those things were horse and buggy, then that’s what you’d get instead. Actually, it might be fun to horse and buggy it to work…again, no point just blah blah blahing…

]]> By: luce http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20380 luce Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:59:38 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20380 <em>…If they are - who does it and how?</em> If you believe Foucault, everyone does it to everyone else. Power is exercised, upon the individual by the mass of other individuals. It's not a conscious conspiracy. It's a self-organized conspiracy. It has those it benefits, like any exercise of power. But it wasn't planned and set up by a secret cabal. …If they are - who does it and how?

If you believe Foucault, everyone does it to everyone else. Power is exercised, upon the individual by the mass of other individuals.

It’s not a conscious conspiracy. It’s a self-organized conspiracy. It has those it benefits, like any exercise of power. But it wasn’t planned and set up by a secret cabal.

]]> By: Earthman Xosha Rosp http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/comment-page-1/#comment-20378 Earthman Xosha Rosp Wed, 13 Sep 2006 23:56:29 +0000 http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/09/13/driving-rite-of-passage/#comment-20378 Have you thought about it in reverse? - it's not a game that indoctrinates you into the rituals of "adulthood" but a mimicry of the rituals that adults are bound to by the realities of life, in the hopes of accelerating the growing-up process. The reason most adults find <em>House</em> and <em>Store</em> and <em>Doctor</em> amusing to watch is that their kids are playing at and mimicing and enjoying rituals that they themselves would rather be free of. After all - what are they? Chores, groceries and letting some dude in a coat feel you up "for your own good"... The reason driving is such a big deal is that its the one of those things we pretended to do as children that most adults enjoy as well. Sure, my way of seeing it is way less fun to the conspiracy folks, but a much more (in my opinion) plausible answer than that standard and unversal (And untaught. I've never met a kid that was "taught" to play House.) childhood games are propgated for brainwashing purposes. ...If they are - who does it and how? Have you thought about it in reverse? - it’s not a game that indoctrinates you into the rituals of “adulthood” but a mimicry of the rituals that adults are bound to by the realities of life, in the hopes of accelerating the growing-up process.

The reason most adults find House and Store and Doctor amusing to watch is that their kids are playing at and mimicing and enjoying rituals that they themselves would rather be free of. After all - what are they? Chores, groceries and letting some dude in a coat feel you up “for your own good”…

The reason driving is such a big deal is that its the one of those things we pretended to do as children that most adults enjoy as well.

Sure, my way of seeing it is way less fun to the conspiracy folks, but a much more (in my opinion) plausible answer than that standard and unversal (And untaught. I’ve never met a kid that was “taught” to play House.) childhood games are propgated for brainwashing purposes.

…If they are - who does it and how?

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